Glasgow University reported to Scottish Charity Regulator over arms investments, ahead of divestment vote
London, 14th June 2024- The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has sent a Complaint to the Scottish Charity Regulator/Oifis Riaghladair Carthannais na h-Alba (OSCR) regarding Glasgow University’s investments in arms companies. The Complaint comes days before Glasgow University formally votes on divestment of arms companies, which will take place on 18th June 2024.
The latest development comes following a notice issued to Glasgow University, alongside 81 other British universities, on 30th April 2024. The notice alerted Glasgow University of the potential risk of criminal liability over any investments held in both arms companies and companies operating in Israeli settlements.
The initial notice informed the university that profiting off investments made in companies supplying weapons to a military that uses them in the commission of war crimes may be a criminal offence. It also informed them that University of Glasgow officers’ risk prosecution in the United Kingdom or elsewhere for doing so.
Following the notice, a formal Complaint was then submitted in May against Trinity College Cambridge. The Complaint was issued to the Charity Commission, the English and Welsh equivalent of OSCR. Within a week of ICJP issuing the Complaint, Trinity College had announced its decision to divest from arms companies.
This latest decision is the first time ICJP has issued a formal Complaint to a charity regulator for an entire university, rather than a constituent college of a university. The Complaint comes alongside a wave of mounting grassroots student pressure against Glasgow University for their investment policies, ahead of a formal vote on divestment on the 18th June 2024.
In April 2024, Glasgow University students voted en masse to elect Palestinian-British war surgeon Professor Ghassan Abu Sittah as their new Rector. Professor Ghassan worked in Gaza during Israel’s genocide, in order to treat Palestinian patients.
ICJP Senior Legal Officer Dania Abul Haj said:
“This money is paid to Glasgow University by the students, and yet their voice is being totally disregarded in how it is being immorally invested.
From BAE Systems to Barclays, companies that Glasgow University reportedly invest in are not only potentially complicit in Israel’s latest assault on Gaza, but they have a track record of providing equipment that has been used in home demolitions, the illegal Israeli separation wall in the West Bank and around Jerusalem, and other tools of apartheid.
Investment in these companies was already morally bankrupt, but in the current circumstances, it is beyond belief that universities, which are educational institutions, paving the way for future generations of leaders and politicians, would continue to invest in them.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians is an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law.
- Press releases for ICJP’s notices to Trinity can be read here and here and here.
- ICJP’s announcement of its notice to 82 universities can be read here.
- For more information, or to arrange an interview with a spokesperson, please contact ICJP news desk at [email protected].